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The Weird Week in Review

All the stories have been thoroughly checked this week, and only one is an April Fool. Can you spot which one it is?

8-foot Shark Jumps Into Boat

A good day of fishing is sometimes described as fish jumping into the boat. The real life experience can be frightening. Texas fisherman Jason Kresse and two companions were about 50 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico looking for red snapper on Monday, throwing chum into the water when an 8-foot mako shark appeared- on board! The 375-pound fish began to thrash about and caused some damage to the boat. The crew could not get close enough to restrain the fish. The shark died several hours later. Kresse said the crew had to use a forklift just to get the shark out of the boat after returning to port. Fish and Wildlife officials say they will not cite Kresse for catching the shark without a permit, because the catch was the shark's doing.

Breeding the Many-Eared Cat

A Russian scientist, Vladimir Obryvkov of the Voronezh State University of Agriculture, found a stray five-eared cat. After taking it his laboratory for x-rays, he took it home to his family. Obryvkov has been studying animal anomalies for years.

Obryvkov said that the cat named Luntya also has big paws but her behavior does not differ from that of normal cats.

He also said that he wants to mate his new pet with a four-eared cat living in Vladivostok to create a new breed of these fluffy animals.

There may be a market for a breed with multiple ears, but who has time to scratch them all?

Explosion in Flour Silo Dusts Town

La Esperanza bakery in Englewood, New Jersey supplies baked goods to restaurants all over the state and beyond. On Tuesday, a load of flour was being pumped into the bakery's silo when a pipe came loose. The powder filled the air and settled over adjacent buildings and vehicles. Some witnesses thought there had been an explosion. A bakery spokesman said the mess made it look worse than it was -and that the total amount of flour spilled was probably enough to fill about ten bags. Watch video footage here.

Teenager Billed for Bleeding on Sidewalk

Taylor Petz of Peoria, Arizona, made himself a midnight snack a few months ago. The knife he was holding slipped and punctured his thigh. The teenager called an ambulance. He was taken to the hospital, but no stitches were needed. Meanwhile, the city of Peoria hired a biohazard company to clean up blood droplets Taylor left on the sidewalk in front of his home. The family received a $2,000 bill for the cleanup from the city! Half of the bill was travel time, as the biohazard company was in Tucson, over two hours from Peoria. A spokesman for the city attorney's office said that blood is a biohazard and must be cleaned up, but the city would reduce the part of the bill that the company charged for travel.

Ryanair Announces Child-free Flights

Irish budget airline Ryanair announced it will offer child-free flights on some of its more popular routes, beginning in October. The airline is already known for its controversial fees, such as a new "compensation levy" added to all tickets, and a proposed bathroom usage fee that was never implemented. The child-free flight idea was developed after a consumer survey showed that half of all passengers would be willing to pay extra to avoid flights with children. A third of passengers said they have had flights "ruined" by noisy children.

UFO Sightings Predicted for Royal Wedding

George Filer, a retired Air Force Major and the head of the National UFO Center, thinks that the royal wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton will be viewed by more than just a billion people. There may be extraterrestrials watching as well.

"The craft seem to have an interest in anything important," Filer told AOL News. "They've been sighted recently over Libya and near the Japanese tsunami."

Filer says his center averages more than 1,000 sightings a month, and he expects to get a few UFO reports from the area surrounding Westminster Abbey, the site of the April 29 wedding.

Filer bases his prediction on increased UFO sightings over the English Channel and the royal family's interest in UFOs.

Missing Bronx Zoo Cobra Found

An Egyptian cobra that went missing at the Bronx Zoo last Friday has been found. The cobra made national headlines and even inspired a Twitter feed. It was spotted on Thursday -still in the reptile house! It was only 200 feet away from its original enclosure. Zoo workers set out bedding from rodents' cages to lure the cobra from an area of utility pipes it was hiding in. The scent attracted the snake, which was captured by venomous snake experts. An examination found the snake to be healthy. The zoo's reptile house will reopen in a few days.

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Also on Mental Floss:

DID YOU KNOW? Marlon Brando hated memorizing lines so much that he posted cue cards everywhere to help him get through scenes.
He even asked for lines to be written on an actress's posterior. (That request was denied.)